Mighty Marvel Masterworks - The Mighty Thor Volume 4

 

Considering that as a child I was fairly fascinated with various mythologies, it is not surprising that I was a fan of Marvel's Thor. Characters such as Thor, the Silver Surfer, and other well-spoken, almost Shakespearian soliloquy-speakers made my vocabulary more well-rounded than most of my peers at the time (whether that is still the case is a whole other matter!). Obviously, Marvel plays with the original myths and made Thor into a more typical super-hero, although they also did adapt some original stories to the comic medium.

Here, they cross over with the Olympian mythos and bring in Hercules and Zeus, as Thor quite literally stumbles into a magical entrance to Olympus and encounters Herc and, of course, gets into a fight with him that results in mutual respect. Loki is a constant, villainous thorn in Thor's side, and returns the Absorbing Man from near-non-existence to first fight Thor on Earth and then the legions in Asgard (Thor single handedly almost defeated him before Loki whisked him to Asgard where the entire throng could not stop him). Odin proves who is truly the All-Father, though, and banishes the evil duo.

There is simultaneously a tale of Ragnarok and how the Asgardian gods - led by Thor and Odin, of course - manage to stave it off for the time being.

Thor does have an Earthly love-interest, despite Odin's objections, and that, naturally, causes all sorts of conflicts, as well.

Stan Lee and Jack Kirby do a great job with this series and it is great fun to revisit it!